After the mid-season break in the championship, the V8 Supercars return this weekend at the Queensland Raceway for races 23, 24 and 25 of the 2014 season.
Join The Roar for a live blog of all the action from races 23 and 24 of the Championship today. Coverage will start when the qualifying for the V8 Supercars begins at 11:25am AEST.
Heading into the weekend at Queensland Raceway, Mark WInterbottom leads the championship by 96 points, as he looks to secure his first ever championship title.
He faces stiff competition from Red Bull Driver Jamie Whincup who reduced the margin in the championship – and moved to 2nd in the standings – after winning two of the three races in the last round at Townsville.
Whincup will look to reduce the margin further at the home track of the team and at a track they have had big success at over the last few years.
In the last eight races at the track known as the ‘Paperclip,’ Red Bull Racing has won six of them with Craig Lowndes winning five of those races.
Lowndes needs to bounce back after a horror round in Townsville which saw him slip to 6th in the championship.
Another poor weekend at Queensland would almost certainly end his chances of a championship win this year.
Winterbottom will be looking to break the trend of Red Bull Racing and repeat what he did in Queensland in 2008.
During that year he finished 2nd, 1st and 1st, in the three races at Ipswich.
It promises to be another big battle between the two teams for the championship.
That isn’t the only battle with plenty of other teams and drivers wanting to perform well over the weekend.
One of them is Walkinshaw Racing, who bounced back with a great performance in Townsville.
They won the second race of the weekend and also took home four podiums during the race event.
Continuing that form in Queensland will be vital as they try to become the strongest team in the field once again.
This is also important for James Courtney – from the Holden Racing Team – as he tries to keep his championship title fight alive.
Courtney needs to produce results to keep him close to the top.
Others to look out for include Fabian Coulthard and Shane Van Gisbergen who are also in championship contention in 3rd and 4th position in the standings respectively.
It is also a weekend where the young stars of the sport will look to shine once again.
Last year saw the emergence of Scott McLaughlin and Chaz Mostert in the sport.
McLaughlin took race 2 over the weekend with Mostert taking race 3.
For McLaughlin it was his 2nd win in the sport with Mostert tasting victory for the first time in the V8 Supercars.
It was an emotional victory for Mostert and his team Dick Johnson Racing.
After enduring plenty of heartbreak over the last few years with finances and an uncompetitive team, Mostert gave the team their first win since Courtney in 2010.
Will he continue that form with his new team?
Well from Friday’s form it looks possible.
In the final practice of the day, which was the fastest session, Mostert was second behind McLaughlin in the standings.
Third was Nick Percat in a sign the youngsters could be quick again this weekend.
Winterbottom was 6th for FPR with Whincup (8th) and Lowndes (11th) not far behind.
Less than a second separated the top 25 in the field.
It promises to be a big weekend of racing as plenty of drivers try to win at the Paperclip.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Even though he had good pace, Whincup wouldn't have won the race if the two leaders didn't get taken out. It's all starting to look better for his championship now!
Shane Jones
Roar Guru
That is it from me today. I'll be back tomorrow for Race 25 which is a 200 kilometre race. See you tomorrow.
Shane Jones
Roar Guru
Whincup is now 48 points behind in the championship after the wins today. He has won 4 of the last 5 races in the championship. He is at the top of his game at the moment. It is game on in the Championship.
Shane Jones
Roar Guru
Jamie Whincup wins race 24 at the Queensland Raceway. Lowndes holds on for second with Mostert in third. Van Gisbergen finished in fourth. Rick Kelly held out Mark Wintebottom for fifth with the championship leader finishing in sixth.
Shane Jones
Roar Guru
32/33 Winterbottom passes R. Kelly into the final corner and moves to 5th. Kelly responds though at the start of lap 32 and moves back past the FPR driver. Whincup has opened up a little gap between him and Lowndes.
Shane Jones
Roar Guru
30/33 Whincup will move to within 48 points if he stays in the lead. Winterbottom has moved to 6th in the race. Lowndes though is not giving up and is right behind his team-mate.
Shane Jones
Roar Guru
27/33 Caruso gets a penalty and Red Bull will be loving this. Whincup now has the lead with Lowndes in second. Mostert moves to third after passing Van Gisbergen a few laps ago.
Shane Jones
Roar Guru
24/33 Caruso tries to make the move on McLaughlin into the final corner. He makes contact with the Volvo driver and spins him around. That will almost certainly result in a drive through penalty.
Shane Jones
Roar Guru
21/33 This battle is also bringing the Red Bull's into the contest. This is shaping up to be a cracking finish at Queensland Raceway.
Shane Jones
Roar Guru
20/33 Caruso tries to make the move on lap 19 but isn't close enough. He tries again on lap 20 but just doesn't have the speed out of the corners that can get the job done. Turn 3 and 4 are the key here.
Shane Jones
Roar Guru
18/33 Caruso is all over the back of McLaughlin. Can he make a move? He may have to do it between turns 3 and 4 because of the speed difference between the cars.
Shane Jones
Roar Guru
16/33 Caruso is closing on McLaughlin for the lead. He soft tyres are looking good compared to the Volvo driver. Winterbottom meanwhile has just gotten past Coulthard for 10th position. He is starting to recover from his poor qualifying position.
Shane Jones
Roar Guru
13/33 McLaughlin leads by less than a second over Caruso. The two leaders are around 4 seconds ahead of Whincup and Lowndes who are fighting for the final position on the podium.
Shane Jones
Roar Guru
11/33 Winterbottom gets the move completed into turn 3, down the long straight. He now moves to 11th but lost momentum to those inside the top ten. McLaughlin still leads.
Shane Jones
Roar Guru
10/33 Cracking battle between Courtney and Winterbottom for 11th and 12th position. Winterbottom has him at turn 3 but Courtney responds at turn 4. This is hurting Winterbottom in the championship.
Shane Jones
Roar Guru
9/33 Lowndes gets past Whincup during the ad break but Whincup responds into turn one on lap 9. McLaughlin still leads. Top Six: McLaughlin, Caruso, Whincup, Lowndes, Van Gisbergen, R. Kelly.
Shane Jones
Roar Guru
5/33 Plenty of action in the back of the field as drivers fight for spots. Dust is being dumped everywhere on the circuit. McLaughlin leads by almost two seconds ahead of Caruso. Whincup, Lowndes and Van Gisbegen round out the top 5.
Shane Jones
Roar Guru
2/33 McLaughlin gains a nice gap to the field. Caruso moves away a little bit to the Red Bulls as he gets into his rhythm.
Shane Jones
Roar Guru
1/33 McLaughlin leads into turn 1 and holds on just against Caruso. Caruso is under pressure from Whincup who gets past Lowndes at the start.
Shane Jones
Roar Guru
Interesting scenes on the grid with the Whincup car being looked at by the team. The bonnet was up and the team was looking at it. Will be interesting to see if he has issues during he race.